Former FIFA vice-president Chung to appeal six-year ban to CAS

ZURICH (Reuters) - FIFA presidential candidate and former vice-president Chung Mong-joon has said he will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after he was banned for six years by the ethics committee of football's world governing body on Thursday. The South Korean described the ruling in a statement on Friday as a "shameful attempt" to punish his open criticism of FIFA, which is mired in the worst corruption scandal in its 111-year history, and said it was a blatant miscarriage of justice. CAS is sport's highest tribunal. The six-year ban will almost certainly end Chung's hopes of running to succeed Sepp Blatter, who has been suspended from the presidency over allegations of improper payments, which he denies. UEFA head Michel Platini, who had been the leading candidate, has also been suspended. The FIFA presidential election will be held on Feb. 26, with nominations to be formally registered four months earlier. Chung, a scion of South Korea's Hyundai industrial conglomerate, is the second person to be banned in the wake of an investigation into the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. Like Jack Warner, a former FIFA powerbroker who was banned for life two weeks ago, Chung was a member of the executive committee which awarded Russia and Qatar the hosting rights at a vote in December 2010. The investigation was led by Michael Garcia who was FIFA's chief investigator at the time. His report has not been made public but a summary by FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert said there was not enough evidence to award a re-vote. Chung said he had been banned for what he called "vague articles" in the FIFA code of ethics relating to matters such as “duty of disclosure” and “confidentiality”. However, allegations of vote-trading had been dropped, he said. "Both allegations for which the investigation against me were initiated have now been dropped," he said. "The Ethics Committee is sanctioning me not for my alleged violations of “vote-trading”, “the appearance of offering a benefit” and personal donations, but for my criticisms of the Ethics Committee and my attitude during the investigation," said Chung. "There is no clearer proof than this that the whole investigation has been a political ploy from the beginning." He added that "the investigation into my alleged violations has been fundamentally flawed and was merely an attempt to sabotage my candidacy for FIFA President." Chung concluded that the ruling had "completely undermined the legitimacy and fairness of the next FIFA presidential election." He also said he would take legal action against the Ethics Committee "for damaging my reputation." (Reporting by Brian Homewood; editing by Ralph Boulton and Gareth Jones)